Someone put a video on my facebook of a “trainer” jerking

this poor dog off his front feet for moving in front of the

“trainer”.  The dog visually checked in 3 times looking for

direction before moving ahead.  What in the world is wrong

with this picture!!!!!!!! Why would we set up a dog, who is

obviously trying to do the right thing, to fail?  It is a

proven fact that dogs learn more quickly when they are

successful.

Picture this-you are at work, you ask your boss for

directions, not once but 3 times with no reply, soooo you go

ahead and do what you think is right and BLAM you get

knocked off your chair.  How in the world did that help you

learn?

When I am working with my dogs, I tell myself it will take

as long as it takes for them to learn a behavior.  If within a

reasonable time we are not making progress I assume one

of  two things.  Either I am not clear, or I am asking for too

much and need to break the behavior down into smaller

segments. 

It seems to me we are way too quick to blame our dogs for

being stubborn, willful, stupid, (put in your word of choice)

when in fact WE just aren’t clear in our directions. 

I have been to seminars that have demos where one person

is the dog and one the trainer who has to teach a behavior

without words.  Always the funniest part of the seminars.

Believe me, it never goes well.  If you say “That isn’t me”,

find a volunteer, decide ahead of time what your will teach,

and try, using no words, to teach your volunteer a behavior. 

You will find out just how difficult it really is for our dogs

to understand just what in the heck we want from them.

Patience and kindness will go a long, long way in the lifetime

of learning for your dog. I like to think of dog training as a

puzzle, you train piece by piece until you get to see the

whole picture.

The other day I was at the shelter, it was steaming hot, cloudy, with

threatening storm clouds and thunder on and off.  Pretty typical of our weather

this summer. Too hot to walk dogs, really most of the dogs were pretty quiet,

you know, one of those days nobody moves much.

So it seemed only right to liven things up a bit.......So we let the pugs come out

and play in the adoption area. They are soooo funny, snorting and playing,

friendly and just visiting. What a lot of personality. Josie somehow showed up

to the party looking for a little fun, she is the sweetest, most wonderful girl.

Someone would be so lucky to have her. By this time a crowd was gathering to

participate and Daisy came out to play, she loves to retrieve, and she was

delighted with all the attention and had a ball chasing her toy and bringing it

back time after time.

One of my favorite things about MARL is that every employee truly enjoys the

animals. What would be more uplifting to one of the shelter residents than to

have 3 or 4 people fawning over them, playing their favorite games with them,

kind of like what a real family would do.

I received an e-mail this morning from my agility instructor asking if, instead of

running class on this horribly hot and muggy evening, would we prefer to meet at

one of our classmates' homes to have a pond party? This is something we had

talked about doing in the past and today seemed to be the perfect time.

Set on 140 acres, all the dogs ran free; swimming and just hanging out. There is

not much I love more than watching my dogs have fun. Since I wasn't sure how

many dogs would be there, I decided to leave the girls at home and just take

Max and Gooch.

Max can fit into any situation, he just sort of walks right into the middle of the

group and says "Here I am, and I think it's time to party". Gooch was a little

more apprehensive interacting with a group of dogs he didn't know. He learned a

lot today. He learned that there may be other dogs around who can and will tell

him when he's out of line. He learned that when another dog is out of line with

him that it's OK to let them know. He met and played with lots of dogs today

and even got to practice his brand new swimming skills.

Of course we humans also had a great time today, playing with the dogs, chatting

with each other and just enjoying the day.

Periodically a dog comes into the shelter that just tugs at my heart strings, Angel

was such a dog. She reminded me so much of my Roxie it was all I could do to not

take her home.

I was at the shelter one day and a wonderful gentleman came in looking for a

companion for his dog. I showed him Angel, it was love at first sight for all of

them. After a year in her new home,  I recieved an Email telling me how wonderful

she is, how Angel and her housemate are perfect companions, how the cat and her

sleep together at night and he said his only regret is that she didn't come into his

life earlier.

That Email made my day.

I love the holiday,I love celebrating our freedom, I love getting together

 with family and friends, but I HATE fireworks. Most of my friends feel pretty

much the same way. A week or so before the 4th the explosions start, followed by

a week or so after.

Every year I read about lost dogs that have freaked out and run away in a panic,

hopefully they will be found by their families. I am lucky with this group of

dogs that none of them are terrified, Gooch is the worst and he will just go down

into the basement. But I have lived with dogs that are so terrified that there is

no consoling them. I keep all the windows closed and the TV on, I use rescue

remedy, melatonin, massage, I have tried it all.

They always have new things to try, so if you have a storm, noise phobic dog, look

into all the different methods to help you help your dog.

Geez I just realized that I am almost out of cranberry pills. Oh Oh I have to make sure I get to the health food store tomorrow and pick up a couple of bottles.

When Roxie first came to live with me she almost immediately started getting a urinary tract infection. I took her to the vet and put her on a round of antibiotics. She cleared up, but a week later started showing signs of it starting again. For any of you who have escaped that girly problem, they will ask to go out constantly, try to go over and over but nothing is there.

I remember my 99 year old Grandma bragging how she never had those kind of problems because she drank cranberry juice every day. Hey I figured “what could it hurt”, so I went out and got cranberry juice and Roxie drank it. Poor little girl, she kind of made a funny face but down it went. Anyway I have since found cranberry pills which are much more palatable, so each morning the girls in the house (including me), have a pill. She has lived with me almost 6 years now and never had another problem. Just goes to show you Grandma really does know best!!!!!!!!

Lots of my friends are out of state enjoying the American Kennel Club Agility Nationals and in the spirit of good old competition my agility instructor decided we would have our own competition.

The course we ran was very difficult, we all had a case of nerves, we were timed, faulted and placed.  We sat silently watching our classmates navigate the course and ran over and over in our heads how we would handle our dogs.  Funny what a little competition will do to a person.  Usually we are chatting with each other, laughing and enjoying our friends and dogs while waiting for our turn to practice.  Anyway, it was great fun for all…..

By the way, Max got 2nd overall and Roxie earned 3rd overall.

YAHOO!!!!!!!

We got out today for our first hiking trip of the year. I am so lucky to have places that I can take my dogs, turn them loose and let them just have fun. Through the bog, across the creek, tip toe over two beaver dams and we’re there.  Wooded hiking trails, water to play in, chasing each other down the trails, they came home wet, filthy, exhausted, and perfectly happy.  Me too!!

I use lots of treats in my household.  Because I have four dogs that are all involved in dog sports and I am a firm believer in the old adage you get better results with treats than hard corrections, OK maybe that is my adage……..I am always on the lookout for good, healthy snacks.

If we have chicken for dinner, I will squirrel a piece away, cut it into tiny bites, stick it into a baggie and freeze it.  A bit of leftover roast?  Kids didn’t finish all their dinner? , put it away for the canine member of your family. When block cheese goes on sale, I will pick up a number of blocks and keep it available for training sessions.   My dogs love carrots, broccoli, apples, bananas.  Pretty inexpensive and healthy.

One thing I NEVER give my dogs is anything red, you know the treats that they sell for a pretty big price that are red.  Look at the ingredients and do a bit of research on what some of those things are.

I know this may seem like a lot of work and effort, but just like feeding your human family well, you will find a great deal of satisfaction from helping you canine member stay in optimum health.

My first attempt at cutting Max’s nails after bringing him home from the shelter was met by a snarling, snapping whirling dervish.  Never have I had a dog react with such terror.

My neighbor asked me if I would come over and hold her dog so she could cut her nails, Tink absolutely went crazy at nail trimming time.

I was at agility class last night when the owner lamented that he was going up to his house because he had to trim all 3 of his dogs nails.  We all made that face, you know that face you make when you have a distasteful job ahead of you.

Seems to be universal, most dogs really dislike having their nails cut.  More than likely because we have on occasion cut them too short. OUCH…….

I started Max’s nail cutting education by waiting until he was relaxed, took a handful of treats, quickly clipped just the tip off one nail, praised the daylights out of him and gave him lots of treats.  I can, after a very long time, cut all of his nails at the same time.  I still treat him after a few nails and am extremely careful not to cut into the quick.

Tink is also much better about having her nails clipped after her owner tried the one nail, lots of treats method.

If you have a dog that hates manicure day, try this method, it really works!!!!!

I must confess “I am a book junkie”,  I love books of all kinds, but my real weakness is dog books.  Like a lot of you I am starting that spring cleaning, starting with my computer/office/sewing/crafting/library room. Geez, no wonder I can hardly walk through that room!!!!  Of course, as I’m going through things (at this point books) I can’t stop myself from taking a peek at my favorites. HMMM could that be why that room never gets clean?  Anyway I was looking through one of my all time favorites “Taking Care Of Puppy Business” by Gail Pivar and Leslie Nelson yesterday before I went to the shelter,  LOVE,LOVE,LOVE this little book.

I had the privilege of attending a class that Leslie taught and I was blown away with her inventive, teaching style. She owns Tails-U-Win training center and at that time they were training 53 classes a week, every class taught through positive training techniques. That is astounding…….